Yes, we know, the state senate should really be focusing its energy on silly things like ensuring all people are treated like actual human beings with basic rights. But there’s another important issue they need to address as well: the rights of small brewers vs distributors.

S1315 is currently in the Rules Committee. It would allow small breweries to terminate contracts with distributors by paying them “fair compensation.” Currently, a contract can only be terminated with “good cause.” In this bill, a “small brewery” is defined as one producing less than 300,000 barrels per year: for reference, Flying Bison is estimated to produce 6,500 barrels this year.

Small breweries can choose to self distribute, and that’s what we plan to do, at least in the foreseeable future. Once you get big enough, though, it’s not feasible: Flying Bison reached a point where it was not worth the amount of effort to manage distribution themselves, and so they use a distributor.

This bill would allow a brewery to change distributors or manage it themselves again. Their current distributor would be compensated and they could then change their distribution method to whatever worked for them. It will allow breweries to expand in a method that works for them. This will lead to more jobs and more beer.

This is a good thing! You need to tell the members of the Senate Rules Committee that you think it is: find your state senator, then see if they’re on the rules committee. That last link autoplays video, by the way, so if you don’t feel like smooth jazz being played on your speakers then pause the first embed on the page. Then, tell them you think this bill needs to come to a vote.

Ideally, this needs to happen today or tomorrow. So don’t delay! Shoot them an email or make a quick phone call now. (If you happen to live in Brooklyn, Senator Golden in particular is on the fence)